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the mountains of Israel; of which they are to be given possession, according to the terms of this new covenant. By this also their national councils are to be regulated, equally with their private and personal concerns. And as to the Jews, they have generally looked to the old national covenant, which they have not kept, and do not keep, and according to which they can never regain possession. The announcement of a New Covenant is, indeed, worthy of note, first by the Jew, that he may be made to look for that which is presented in the gospel.-Its newness is to be remarked by also the outcasts of Israel: for it is not new as to individual salvation. In this respect it is older than the former national covenant made with Israel; inasmuch as it is the same which had been hundreds of years before, declared unto Abraham: who was justified by faith, as were all the children of God both before and since. They were, and are, all individually saved according to the terms of the new covenant. As to individual salvation, it therefore, is not new, in contrast to the covenant made with Israel at Mount Sinai; but it is new as a national covenant-as a covenant according to which Israel and Judah are to be received into the land, and be accepted by Him there as his nation, they taking the Lord himself as their King-the King whom all Israel rejected in the days of Samuel, four hundred and ninety years before their being outcast; and whom Judah procured to be crucified forty years before their dispersion. This King Eternal, the Jews will acknowledge as the King Immortal-and they will earnestly cry for the return of our risen Lord-And this King immortal, Israel will joyfully submit to as their Ruler, while He is yet invisible: whom having not seen they love-in whom, though now they see Him not, yet believing, they rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Both Israel and Judah, repenting at length of their folly and wickedness, shall submit unto Him as the only wise God; and seek to

be saved by His grace, and directed by His truth.

There is a clear distinction drawn between this covenant and the former national one. The contrast is drawn by the Lord Himself. This is "Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake: Should I have continued an husband unto them, saith the Lord?" He had espoused Israel unto Himself, engaging, upon their submitting to Him as their Guardian and Governor, to be their God-to lead them into the land of promise, and protect them in the possession thereof. In token of their subjection to Him, certain services, as those of the ceremonial law, were to be performed by them. These they neglected; and they lightly esteemed the Rock of their salvation; and at length the great body of the people sought to be relieved from what they esteemed to be a yoke too grievous to be borne; and the Lord gave them their request. He gave Israel a bill of divorce, and sent her away. She cannot be married to Him again according to that covenant; neither does He propose that she should. "But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel: after those days, saith the Lord."-After the days of separation, during which both the contracting parties would have died, that so they might lawfully be united in the newness of life. He took to Him a human body, fulfilled for her the law which she had broken; died for his people's sins, and rose again for their justification. She hath passed through a national death during the predicted seven times, or until the third day of a thousand years; and He promised that on the third day He would raise us up, and we should live in his sight, be brought back to dwell before him in His own land,—in a land which is to be emphatically the land of the living; and upon which will be the eyes of the Lord from the beginning of the year unto the end of

cumstances, was the assured pledge or sign, to Abram, that all else would be accomplished according to the word of the Lord. This was an assurance that through the One Seed, Christ, already promised, a numerous posterity would at length be brought forth to him, to inherit, with him, the promised blessing. These are they, who, being in the present dispensation employed in turning many to righteousness, shall, in the period of reward, shine as the stars for ever and ever. And so it here follows, ver. 5, "And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: And he said unto him, So shall thy seed be." And as an example to the numerous seed who thus will be lifted up, first in grace, and then in glory, it is declared, with regard to Abram, unto whom the Lord had been presented as his shield, and as his exceeding great reward,

And he believed in the Lord, and He counted it to him for righteousness"

The Lord recognises not only the truth of the promise respecting the Seed, but also respecting the Land. The Lord had not taken from Abram the lesser gift, because he had given him the greater, ver. 7, " And He said unto him, I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it." Abram was not so indifferent with regard to the land as many of his descendants have been; and, that he might be in no doubt as to what had been spoken, he even asked a sign, ver. 8: "And he said, Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? The sign which was given to him appears to have been also a sign for us. To him was presented the symbol, the mystery of which has been accomplished in his descendants. They have been in the gross darkness which fell upon Abram, so that they have not seen afar off: but when they see, they shall find that our God hath not been negligent as to the giving evidence of his intention to fulfil his word, ver. 9, "And he said, Take me an heifer of

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three years old, and a she-goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtle dove, and a young pigeon: And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another; but the birds divided he not. And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away." They have never effectually, until our own day, been frayed away from preying upon the torn carcass of Judah. The Jews, therefore, do not seem to be the people referred to by these divided carcases.

For the divisions of Reuben, the natural first-born of Jacob, there were to be great searchings of heart. The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel. "The word

of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do." It is to be recollected, that the epistle from which these words are quoted, is addressed to the Hebrews; and it is to be observed that, whilst it is admitted that every creature is naked and open before the eyes of Omniscience, yet the dividing of the carcases had a special reference to the Hebrews, the descendants of Abraham, unto whom the word of the Lord was sent, and upon whom it was to light.

The seed of Jacob, more especially of the house of Israel (not Judah) appear to be the people represented by these carcases, which, although divided, were not to be given as a prey to the fowls of heaven. It is to be observed that the carcases were not objects of hatred, but of tender concern to Abraham. His posterity, with regard to whom he had expressed so deep an interest in the preceding part of the chapter, were indeed divided, according to the word of the Lord, and that especially through the instrumen

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say to Not my people; " Thou "My people;" and they shall say, "My God."

There is a distinction also as to the ministration of this covenant. The high priest was appointed to mediate between God and his people. It was appointed that "the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he the messenger of the Lord of hosts;" but now all shall have access to God through our one Mediator, Christ Jesus. They all have access into the holiest of all by the blood of Jesus. They shall enjoy their privilege, “If any man lack wisdom, let him ask it of God, who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him." They shall know the truth of what is said, 1 John ii. 27, "But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you; and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie; and even as it hath ye shall abide in him." be ignorant of the Lord. shall no more teach every man his neighbour and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord." There shall be "One Lord, and his name one "-so that they shall not be, every one, putting forth his own confused and contradictory views, as the knowledge of the Lord. Human coercion will not be employed to effect this. It is light that will have banished the darknesslight, in which the assumption of spiritual pride, the exclusive pretensions of either an ignorant or an intelligent priesthood, can have no place: "For they shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord."

taught you None shall "And they

The mercy-seat, upon which was the sprinkling of blood, was over the ark of the covenant, in which was deposited the law of the ten commandments, written upon tables of stone. Above the ark was the seat or throne of the Lord: "And in those days they

shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord." It shall be the habitation of justice and judgment. The law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem; and all this shall be by the powerful application of the atoning blood, which, on Calvary, was shed for the sin of the people; and because of which, the Lord will accomplish his promise, “For I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more." It is because of this that He will manifest himself as their God, and they shall be made His people. They are redeemed and sanctified by that blood. It is through the redemption by that blood, that the law is written in their hearts, and placed in their inward parts. Each of them-yea, all of them as one, shall say, "By the grace of God I am what I am "I am the Lord's."

Upon the mercy-seat, so consecrated, the Lord in his glory will visibly descend, and dwell in the midst of his people so prepared.

From what hath been said, it may be clearly seen, that God, as the God of redemption that He who hath ratified the new covenant with the blood of atonement, is fully pledged for, not only the restoration of the Jews, but for the recovery of Israel. And thus also may we see that it is only according to the terms of this latter covenant, ordered in all things and sure, and not according to that which they have broken, that Judah can inherit blessing.

The New Testament, although given to a people bearing the name of Gentiles, was, as we have seen, designed more particularly for Israel, whom it was to reach as being called Not His people, but who were, through grace, to become His people, according to the terms of this new covenant. And into the blessing of this covenant, not only individuals, as we have seen, are to be brought, but the whole body of the people, consisting of both Israel and Judah, who shall be given to reinhabit the land when the present desolations are accomplished.

For a light by night,

Ir seems to have been supposed by many, that, although in the case of Israel remaining to this day, and being found within hearing of the gospel, God would have fulfilled his promise, of receiving them into the enjoyment of New Testament privileges; yet, they having ceased to be a nation, having utterly passed away from the face of the earth, he has been obliged to take another people in their stead, upon whom to bestow the blessings of his first-born. The Jews seem to have been the first in this folly,taking to themselves the name, and claiming the privileges of Israel, as if they were the only representatives of All Israel, unto whom the promises were made. And others, calling themselves Gentiles, have since excluded even the remnant of Israel: supposing the blessing to have entirely passed away from the natural branches. Both Jew and Gentile appear to have been ignorant of the mystery; and have become wise in their own conceits. They seem to have forgotten that the Mighty God who upholds creation, who directs alike the regular movements of the heavenly bodies, and controls the tumultuary heavings of the deep, is the same God who hath promised preservation and restoration

to Israel, as well as to Judah; and certainly to both Israel and Judah as such, as well as to the sons of the stranger, who may join themselves to the Lord, and lay hold upon his covenant, and so be built up in the midst of his people. See Is. Ivi. These are not excluded: but neither does the extension of the blessing to the sons of the stranger exclude the very people unto whom the New Testament blessings were especially promised. The God who hath been controlling the destiny of the sons of Jacob, and who hath promised to make with them the new covenant we have been considering, is the same God who created the heavens and the earth, and by whom all are upheld in being. It is not to be supposed that His purposes of love towards his people have been frustrated, through their dropping out of existence, or failing to be found in the countries into which He hath sent his word after them, in order to procure their recall.

This Mighty God points to the manifestation of his wisdom and power in the heavens above; and assures us that He who giveth the sun for a light by day; the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, will never allow this supposed

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case to happen to Israel. The stars in their regular courses move according to His bidding; and the sun which is so bright an image of his own divine power, enlightening and vivifying the inhabitants of earth, rising from the east, and proceeding in the direction in which hath proceeded his own lifegiving word, is itself given as a sign to his people that their case is not hid from Him; nor is his power put forth irrespective of them. They are the very people in relation to whom his light hath gone forth, and his power is exerted. They are the very people who have encircled the globe from the east, and whose part it is widely to diffuse his light, with all the power He hath given them, among the nations who have long sat in darkness. And now they are called to contemplate the element upon which they have been thus far borne, so as to encircle every shore; and, whilst they see in it pictured forth the apparently unmanageable tumults of the people, they are to think of Him whose path is in the mighty waters;-" Who divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar. The Lord of Hosts is his name." He doeth according to his will in the armies of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand from working, nor say unto him, What doest thou? It is He who saith to the sea in its utmost fury, Hitherto shalt thou come, and no farther; and here shall thy proud waves be stayed. How striking are the words of this Mighty God, and how well calculated to put to silence the surmisings of unbelief, as to the possibility of his failing to overrule all for the accomplishment of his purposes with regard to Israel: "If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever," They might

cease to exist in man's esteem. Amidst the confused conflictings of nations, they might to appearance be cast away, or be lost to the view of man; but to the eye of Omniscience they would ever be present; by the hand of Omnipotence they would ever be upheld. As through the Red Sea, a path was cleft for their fathers, so for them, we may rest assured, would a way be made, so that they might be preserved and conducted into the enjoyment of all that is promised. The laws of Providence, as constant and sure as the laws of creation, would be ever tending towards this; and undoubtedly this has been the case with regard to the people we identify with Israel. The very changes which have been for the wasting of other nations, have been for their improvement and elevation.

May they see, and acknowledge the working of the Mighty God, the God of heaven and earth, the God of Israel; and confessing that it is of his own free goodness they have been thus dealt with; that it is in Him they live, and move, and have their being, may they yield themselves up unto Him, in living faith, with a knowledge of His purposes with regard to them; daring to do whatever he appoints, whoever may gainsay

"Fear God, his saints, and you will then

Have nothing else to fear; Make ye his service your delight,

He'll make your wants his care."

The power which hath upheld the natural seed of Israel hitherto, is well able to uphold the spiritual Israel in all his whole will. And the spiritual Israel being recognised as of the natural Israel, and given their appointed position in the sight of all nations, will never cease, either before God or man, from being a nation. They will constantly live in His sight for ever.